Restaurants. Side dishes.

`Show Boat' Dining At The Renaissance

May 31, 1996|By Phil Vettel, Tribune Restaurant Critic.

With "Show Boat" docked for the summer at the Auditorium Theatre, there are plenty of people looking for pre-theater dining in the Loop area.

The Renaissance Chicago Hotel, 1 W. Wacker Drive, is offering themed Show Boat dinners at its Cuisines and Great Street Restaurant dining rooms. The Southern-style menus are inspired by the cooking aboard the Delta Queen riverboat; the Delta Queen's chef was a guest chef at the Renaissance at the beginning of the musical's run.

Both restaurants' "Show Boat" menus are a la carte; entrees are in the low to upper teens. There is also a package available, which includes a three-course meal with theater tickets.

At Cuisines, appetizers include a very good crayfish bisque, the smooth soup holding at least four plump crayfish. Gently fried oysters, in a creamy shrimp sauce loaded with chunks of mushroom and green pepper, is another good beginning.

Beef medallions with ratatouille is a dish more suited to Cuisines regular, Mediterranean menu; the Creole mustard sauce that comes with it is a bit of a stretch, though the beef is of fine quality. A better choice is the red snapper, topped with crayfish and served with andouille-sausage risotto.

Desserts include a sliver of pecan tart, topped with praline ice cream; it's perhaps a shade better than the warm bread pudding with bourbon caramel sauce, which is a little mushy.

So the food is fine and the price isn't bad; the real question is, does the restaurant get you out the door in time for curtain?

On our visit, Cuisines did a fine job. The waiter asked right away if we had tickets to the show, and when we said we did (we were lying), timed the meal and check so that we had plenty of time to catch a cab to the theater, if in fact we had been going there.

Great Street also features a "Show Boat" breakfast menu; dishes include pecan waffles, Creole omelet with andouille sausage and ham with eggs and cheese grits.